R&B Singer Claims Taylor Swift Stole 'Haters Gonna Hate' Lyrics From Him

A 50-year-old R&B singer is suing Taylor Swift for allegedly stealing lyrics from one of his songs for her pop hit “Shake It Off.” He says she’s “definitely trolling him.”

In his copyright infringement lawsuit, Jesse Graham claims Swift copied a portion of his 2013 song, “Hater’s Gone Hate” for the hook to “Shake It Off,” which goes: “Players gonna play, play, play, play, play/ And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”

Graham’s version is: “Haters gone hate, playas gone play/ Watch out for them fakers, they’ll fake you everyday.” The singer is suing Swift for $42 million. He says you can’t deny the similarity of both songs.

“Her hook is the same hook as mine. If I didn’t write the song ‘Haters Gone Hate,’ there wouldn’t be a song called ‘Shake It Off,’” he told the New York Daily News. “At first I was going to let it go, but this song is my song all the way.”

Here’s Graham’s pretty damn soulful version for reference (it’s labeled under “Comedy” on YouTube, hmm):

It’s hard to believe this expert troller has a case here, since Swift has the entire English language trademarked. But this is about the principle.

Graham, who’s been singing sweet love songs for years, says he’s contacted Swift’s label Big Machine up to five times to sort out a writing credit for himself and to reportedly ask for a selfie with her.

Swift is shaking violently in response.

Others who could’ve filed this same lawsuit:

• 3LW for “No More”
• 504 Boyz for “Hater’s Gon Hate”
• Rakim for “Walk These Streets”
• Black people

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Image via YouTube